​​While I was at Melbourne for Vidcon Australia, I’ve decided to go to a bookstore before watching The Book of Mormon at the Princess Theatre with the family. We passed by the Hill of Content Bookstore at Bourke Street and whilst I was looking around, one book caught my eye and it’s called ‘The Loneliest Girl in the Universe’. I picked up the book and read the blurb in the back and what caught my attention was this quote at the top:

I immediately posted this on Snapchat (? Cutiejea) and read it a week later after Vidcon.

I got the book because after reading the description at the back, it talks about online friendships/romances and may depict some themes of depression, mental illness, and what it’s like to be alone and isolated. Plus the title relates to me at some personal degree.

On the 15th of September (a week after my purchase), I’ve decided to read it and after finishing the book just recently, I have to say…. I quite enjoyed it. But what I liked most about reading the book is how much I could relate to the protagonist and how the way the two characters interact via online means of communication is fairly accurate to what I’ve experienced in the past.

And now… I’m writing my thoughts on the novel.

About the Novel

The Loneliest Girl in the Universe is a book written by Lauren James who resides in the United Kingdom. The book is her first standalone novel, published in September 7 2017, and it was inspired by a Physics calculation that the author was assigned when she was at university (Source: Godreads). The author has studied Physics and Chemistry at University of Nottingham and started writing fictional stories whilst she was in her secondary education.

The book follows Romy Silvers, the 16 year old commander and the only survivor of The Infinity spacecraft. Her parents died whilst she was 11 and she has 20 years to go before she arrives at Earth II. She talks to her therapist Molly, via email and audio transmissions, to help her cope from her loneliness, anxiety, depression, and the nightmares she’s been receiving. Before things got bad back on Earth, a second ship was sent to connect with The Infinity, the Eternity. In it was a passenger named ‘J’ and the two talk to each other via email communications about their concerns about Earth and their journey to the new planet. But as time passes, Romy begins to fall in love with this online stranger and wonders what would happen when they meet in real life.

The way the book it’s structured, some chapters are long, like your average 8 – 10 pages; but a majority of the book are at least 1 – 3 pages long. This kinda made me upset but knowing on what the story is about and how each events play out as the chapters are set up in days and hours, it makes sense.

One of the things that I enjoyed about the book is the email exchanges between Romy and J and Romy’s thoughts during the wait before each message arrives. You’d get invested to what they say to each other and you can see how much Romy needs J in order to fight her demons and nightmares. But you also worry for her since her entire reality is based on fiction. She was born in space, hence everything she knows is based on what her parents taught her and what she sees in saved videos and other forms of media in her hard drives.

This book is a Sci-Fi romance novel and I have to admit, this was the first Sci-Fi book I’ve ever read. I’ve read a handful of YA romance books in the past such as The Fault in our Stars, If I Stay, and a few manga series as well such as Fruits Baskets and Full Moon O Sagashite. It didn’t turn me off knowing that the story would be set in space, but what concerned me is that I might not get the terminology used. Luckily, the terms are easy to understand and you wont get lost in the terminology

How this book can relate to us (WARNING… SPOILERS)

When I first got this book, I though it would be just an interesting read as I just got hooked by the title and blurb alone. But once I got through a few chapters, I felt like we can all relate to Romy and her journey in The Infinity, as well as her interactions with J.

Romy Silvers

Romy in the book has an interest in writing fan fiction to cope with her loneliness as well as to bring her thoughts to life through text. She writes down how she’s feeling in forms of fiction and it helps calm her down.

 It’s also mentioned in the book on how she created this mini dream life through food packets about the life she wishes to have. She she lives through this exaggerated idea about how her life would be like if she wasn’t alone and makes sense since her only life revolves around the ship. I know I can’t speak for everyone, but I know there a few fan fiction writers out there who write stories of their favourite characters as a way to experiment with certain ideas. I’ve met a couple of fan artist who make art as a way to cope with whatever what’s going on with their reality.

If I could quote Dan Howell, ‘Fan Fiction is a creative hobby. Would you rather let your child do drugs or write?’.

Online Communication

One of the events that occurred in the book is when both Romy and J have their first audio call. Everything that occurred in that chapter is fairly accurate. Being nervous and speechless due to joy and excitement, I guess first calls aren’t something to be very excited about. But if the person on the other side is someone you’ve been talking to for quite some time, then those feelings could appear during the anticipation.

Does this scenario sound familiar to you:

You sit on front of your computer screen or mobile phone. You log in to Skype, added the person and press that phone button that says ‘Start call’. Time slows down between the connection time and ringing. In your head, it’s filled with both excitement to hear this person for the first time, but also fearful as well since you don’t know who’s at the other side. Once the first person says ‘hello’, you’re smiling and covering your mouth. You grin so widely and/or your heart begins to beat really fast due to sheer excitement.

Then there is the email communication. Romy uses it in order to contact people and she cherishes each message she receives since they take months before the messages arrive from point A to point B. It allows her to be in touch with the people she finds comfort with. Let’s change that with DM’s over on Twitter or Facebook messenger. We all talk to random strangers on the internet to seek comfort when life gets rough at home or at school. You do it to connect with people with similar interest and stories as you.

The idea of loneliness and isolation

One of the things I enjoyed reading in this book is how the author talks about the idea of being alone and isolated. People have different experiences when it comes to this but at least half of whats’ depicted in the book, we could somewhat relate to it… mostly the ones involving love and romance.

For me, I will not explain a lot for this part since it’s gets really personal. All I can say is that, yes, you do invest a lot of time when it comes to love and romance and currently for my experience, it did lead to a lot of pain.

Other forms of loneliness depicted in the book is being literally alone in one small area (as Romy is the only survivor), survival (since her actions will determine if she lives or dies), and a few others that I won’t go on with. Up to you to find out for yourself.

And this is just some of the few ways on how this book could relate to you. We have experienced some of these things at some point in our lives and the way it’s described in the book, it’s close to how it actually happens in real life, to what we have been through… but set in space.

Definitely a Space!Au of our reality.

Overall thoughts

The book was quite enjoyable and I recommend you guys to read it. The plot can relate to those who made online friendships but it also explores the ideas of trust, loneliness and mental illness. This story takes the Science fiction genre and mixed it with your usual YA romance novel.

Think of it as Full Moon O Sagashite mixed up with Star Trek.

If the author ends up seeing this review, I want to say that I almost cried when I was reading this as past memories started to play in my head every time I read the email exchanges between Romy and J. It’s similar to what I’ve sent in the past, hence why I enjoyed it.

I made a Spotify playlist filled with songs that could relate to the story in the book. I recommend listening while reading if you want to get fully invested to the story.

Spotify

I give it a rating of 4/5. It’s a good start for those who wants to try to get into the Sci-Fi genre without getting lost with the terminology, but also want something that hits close to home. It’s a story that we as readers could relate to, but feel like we’re part of this space adventure with Romy.